Knives manufacturers have a colorful history, just as the famous saying that "the history of the world is the history of great men" applies, the history of a great knife is also about the history of the inspired individual who produced some variation over one of the most basic of instruments. Let's take a look at some famous knife manufacturers and find out their history and inspiration.
Victorinox is one of the most famous knive companies in the world - most famous for its Swiss army knife. Karl Elsener belonged to Ibach, Switzerland. He was a manufacturer of knives, and actually was the sole supplier to produce knives to the Swiss army. He established his company in 1884, and named it in honor of his mother as Victorinox. Victorinox's famous competitor Wenger. In 1908, both companies shared the contract to produce knives forthe Swiss army. Victornix markets their products as Original Swiss Army Knives whereas Wenger knives are known as Geniune Swiss Army Knives.
Today, Carl Elsener Sr. and his son, Carl Elsener Jr manage the company and employ approximately one thousand people worldwide. This is in the fourth generation of a family business. Rather than Swiss army knives, Victorinox also manufactured multi tools like luggage boxes, watches etc with the Swiss army brand. Other than Swiss army brand kitchen cutlery tools were introduced. Forschner brand name became very popular in cutlery industry and won competition with Wusthof and JA Henckels. It is fully stamped blade knife.
Another older manufacturer of kitchen cutlery is Wusthof. This is a German company under the family ownership of Harald Wusthof, and has been producing knives since 1814. These are forged knives, and the company has a famous trident with three prongs of equal length as its logo. There are two manufacturing plants in Solingen, and these are some of the most famous knives in the world. Among the product lines include the Classic, the Grand Prix, Ikon, and Culinar series.
Global kitchen knives were introduced in 1983 from Japanese designer Komin Yamada. They are another extremely prestigious brand of knives and are among the great innovators in the knives industry. Their knives are composed of vanadium stainless steel. Yoshida Metal Industry is the corporate parent, and Global is their line of one piece stainless steel knives. This integrated handle and blade design has a superior cutting ability, balance, and precision. Yoshida's aim with global was to combine Japanese precision, Italian design, and German durability together. The blade is first heated to 1000 degrees Celsius, and then cooled to a sub-zero temperature, and finally tempered for four hours. Their special blade has convex cross-secdard knives.
Another modern knife manufacturer is Füritechnics, and Austrailian company founded in Brisbane in 1996 by Mark Henry. Their most famous knife is the east-west knife, a cross between the Japanese Santoku blade, and the French Chef knife. Some Furi knives, as they are commonly known, have a copper counterweight that is used to keep the knife balanced. As the knife blade loses mass, the coppertail can also be shaved.
Deevan lists quality knives, including Global, and Kasumi knives on professionalknives.net
